Anaktuvuk Pass

In the center of the Brooks Range

Population: 324

Anaktuvuk Pass is located in the central Brooks Range. The village lies about 250 miles northwest of Fairbanks and about the same distance southeast of Utqiaġvik. Anaktuvuk Pass is surrounded by tall mountains and near rivers and lakes. The community is located at the gates of the Arctic National Parks and Preserve. Average winter temperatures range from 5 degrees below zero to 50 degrees below zero. The summer average temperature ranges from 40 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

Anaktuvuk Pass, a historic caribou migration route, is the last remaining settlement of the inland Iñupiat – the Nunamiut. The original nomadic Nunamiut left the Brooks Range and scattered in the early 1900s, mostly due to the collapse of the caribou population. By the 1940s, several Nunamiut families returned to the area and settled at Anaktuvuk Pass.

Anaktuvuk Pass has a population of 324 people. The community of Anaktuvuk is largely based on hunting caribou and other regional subsistence activities.